[LordOpie]

ya know how years ago if you were drunk, the cops would say, "Drive straight home and sleep it off. Don't go anywhere else"?

Are we at the beginning of when cell phones might be recognized as a threat?

Last night, my boss' car was trashed in front of his house. He came running out and the 16 yo girl who had her license for a week jumps out of the car freaking out. On the ground is a cell phone with her friend going "hello... hello".

I mean, how fvcking hard is it to not hit a parked car?

This just got me thinking about the prominent cyclist in town here who was killed by a teen txting.

 

[valve bouncer]

What if she was ordering more beer?

 

[binary visions]

I don't think I've ever seen someone talking on a cell phone who I considered to be driving in the same manner they would have been driving off the phone.

Not all of them are completely dangerous, of course, but they are completely obnoxious. My girlfriend gets irritated with me when I need to call someone but refuse to do it in the car. I just won't do it; I feel like I lose control of what's around me.

Text messaging pisses me right the fvck off, though. I've only ever had one person try to do that while I was in the car and the minute he started to type you could see that all it would have taken was a slightly imperfect driving environment to cause an accident. I asked him to not endanger my life and he stopped.

 

[Westy]

The road I tried riding on was closed last night because some chick crossed over lanes and hit a tree. No brake marks or evasive maneuvers just off the road into luckily a small tree. It was suspected she was on the phone. If I had started my ride a few minutes earlier I could have been that tree.

 

[valve bouncer]

If I had started my ride a few minutes earlier I could have been that tree.

Or indeed, the road. Buy a lottery ticket.

 

[$tinkle]

i firmly believe if people driving commuted by bike just once/month, they would have a proper perspective of the appropriate use of handhelds. i tack on an extra few miles just for the purpose of meandering through local & low-traffic areas just to avoid the unskilled.

how come the monkey doesn't have a commuting forum? as an incentive, i'd be scarce on the pawn. that's worth about $2000 baht

 

[syadasti]

The real threat is children. Ban children in cars and ticket parents who are driving them around. Think of all the relief if people didn't bring annoying little kids into restaurants, movie theater, etc. It would be great

Kids are drivers' biggest distraction
29 May 2007

Children are more distracting than tuning a radio or smoking, according to a new survey
• Children more distracting than using mobile phone
• 3000 accidents a year caused by distractions
• Women more like to drive on 'auto pilot'

Forget sipping a cappuccino, tuning the radio, or smoking a cigarette: the most distracting thing you can do in the car is transport children.

Children have been voted the biggest in-car distraction - beating hand-held phones and using satellite-navigation in a recent poll conducted by LV= insurance (Liverpool Victoria). They were named the major reason for loss of concentration when driving, effectively putting drivers at greater risk of having an accident.

The latest Government figures show that of nearly 150,000 accidents in a year, 2895 were caused by a distraction in the vehicle.

The same study revealed that women are more likely than men to switch into 'automatic pilot' while driving, a phenomenon which means they don't concentrate and arrive at their destination with no recollection of how they got there. As many as three-in-five drivers switch into automatic pilot when driving, putting themselves and other road users at risk.

Here are some tips to help keep your children amused and reduce your risk of being distracted:

• Carry travel games, books or toys to entertain children;
• Encourage them to play peaceful games of I-spy or spot particular cars;
• Plan your route so you don't end up lost and fighting with the map;
• If you've got sat-nav, program your route before you set off ;
• Load CDs and programme your favourite radio stations before you leave;
• Take regular breaks to refresh yourself, and to allow the kids to let off steam.

 

[Westy]

i firmly believe if people driving commuted by bike just once/month, they would have a proper perspective of the appropriate use of handhelds.

Not just handhelds but a different view on driving in general. Same thing for goes for riding a motorcycle. I can honestly say I am a much more observant and safer driver after riding a moto on the road.

What they really need to do is just make it much much harder to get and keep a drivers license. It is treated as a right and not as a priviledge in this country. Keep the folks who don't have the skills or don't take it seriously off the road. It would help with congestion too.

 

[LordOpie]

I can honestly say I am a much more observant and safer driver after riding a moto on the road.

Same here.

What they really need to do is just make it much much harder to get and keep a drivers license. It is treated as a right and not as a priviledge in this country. Keep the folks who don't have the skills or don't take it seriously off the road. It would help with congestion too.

Amen!

I would love to live in a town where you had to have special permits and licensing to drive there.

 

[$tinkle]

The real threat is children. Ban children in cars and ticket parents who are driving them around. Think of all the relief if people didn't bring annoying little kids into restaurants, movie theater, etc. It would be great

take it step further & install db-correlated governors. deploy parachutes for low-Es

 

[valve bouncer]

• Children more distracting than using mobile phone
• 3000 accidents a year caused by distractions
• Women more like to drive on 'auto pilot'

Right there is why Iraq destroyed the twin towers. Beautiful.

 

[LordOpie]

Right there is why Iraq destroyed the twin towers. Beautiful.

geezus, how many times do we have to go over this? We did not invade Iraq cuz of 9-11. We invaded cuz they said, "The Dallas Cowboys suck as does all of Texas."

 

[valve bouncer]

geezus, how many times do we have to go over this? We did not invade Iraq cuz of 9-11. We invaded cuz they said, "The Dallas Cowboys suck as does all of Texas."

Right after u posted that I got an e-mail saying "1,000,000 nurses needed". Co-incidence? I tthink not.

 

[fluff]

Research carried out in the UK showed that a person driving whilst talking on the phone (even hands-free) was approximately four times more likely to cause an accident than someone driving whilst drunk.

The reason is apparently that the attention of the person on the phone is removed from driving to being 'out of the car' with the person on the phone.

From what I've seen I believe that could well be true.

 

[2gunnz]

I think that before anyone even gets a license they should have to take a mandatory drivers course that they have to pay for. And I'm not talking about some week long course either, it needs to be around a month or so.

 

[$tinkle]

I think that before anyone even gets a license they should have to take a mandatory drivers course that they have to pay for. And I'm not talking about some week long course either, it needs to be around a month or so.

typical schutzstaffel armband-wearing, jack-booted rejoinder.

why not just have an interment camp for catholic school girls where we can take periodic physical measurements for "purity"?






no really, why don't we

 

[valve bouncer]

typical schutzstaffel armband-wearing, jack-booted rejoinder.

why not just have an interment camp for catholic school girls where we can take periodic physical measurements for "purity"?






no really, why don't we

Don't make me google more pictures of Prussians. I can't flog no more. Have mercy.

 

[ridetoofast]

i was coming home from work the other day and this FVCKING!!!!! tool was blatantly text messaging. he had his phone at the 12 o'clock position on the steering wheel and was sighting his phone like a gun. he was behind/next to me for about 7 minutes and was texting the entire time. i wanted to pull him from his truck and beat him senseless.
when we pulled up next to each other at a light i rolled down my window and told him what an idiot he was and he acted like he was doing nothing wrong. he was clearly late teens/early twenties.

 

[Silver]

Nothing is more dangerous than Suzy soccer mom driving her Navigator to go pick up her fat ass kid from school so she can get said fat ass kid to dance lessons on time.

If you're a cyclist, you should be allowed to shoot those women in the head on sight. Justifiable homicide...because one of them will be responsible for your death in the future.

 

[$tinkle]

i was coming home from work the other day and this FVCKING!!!!! tool was blatantly text messaging. he had his phone at the 12 o'clock position on the steering wheel and was sighting his phone like a gun. he was behind/next to me for about 7 minutes and was texting the entire time. i wanted to pull him from his truck and beat him senseless.
when we pulled up next to each other at a light i rolled down my window and told him what an idiot he was and he acted like he was doing nothing wrong. he was clearly late teens/early twenties.

this is who loopie was talking about in the beginning of the thread:

Teen Charged In Text Messaging Fatal Accident

yeah, this schyte ain't so rare anymore as googling any combination of the terms "teen, driver, while, texting, fatal, accident" will show

 

[$tinkle]

oh yeah, forgot about our national obsession w/ making cute upper-middle class white chicks the spotlight:

Did Text-Messaging Lead to N.Y. Crash?

ANANDAIGUA, N.Y. (AP) -- Text messages were sent and received on a 17-year-old driver's cell phone moments before the sport utility vehicle slammed head-on into a truck, killing her and four other recent high school graduates, police said.

i don't care if you can type at the pace of a rimsky-korsakov piece...

 

[stinkyboy]

A buddy picked me up the day he got his license. I came out drinking a Coke back when these were what you brought home:

He takes a drinks and the bottle foams over as he pulls out, he drops the bottle on the floor and smashes into the neighbors car.

Teens are tools.

 

[jimmydean]

I don't talk on the phone when driving unless I have to, then it's very short. I also don't drive if I have been drinking.

One thing that blew me away was the Motrocorsa (Ducati dealer) anniversary party on Saturday night. There were at least 50 motorcycles there and they also had an open bar. I left early, but heard some interesting stories about the number of intoxicated bikers that rode home that night.

I can't even imagine tossing a few back, then jump on a $15k+ exotic motorcycle with way too much horsepower.

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip> I just won't do it; I feel like I lose control of what's around me.

You do. You're good to acknowledge it. Most people categorically refuse to accept the fact that talking on the phone impairs their ability to drive. They're deluding themselves.

 

[LordOpie]

You do. You're good to acknowledge it. Most people categorically refuse to accept the fact that talking on the phone impairs their ability to drive. They're deluding themselves.

It does not impair me at all.

Granted, my wife and friends get annoyed that I don't really pay attention to them

them: you there?
me: yeah, sorry, what did you say? I'm at a stop light now.
them: ugh, just call me later.

 

[MikeD]

I don't see why a hands-free is any more distracting than a conversation with someone in the car. I find it less so, because there's no impulse to make occasional eye contact or gesticulate.

Then again, I've worked for over 8 years in an environment where I need to talk on multiple radios while driving, moving, shooting, navigating, etc., so my perception may be skewed.

 

[jimmydean]

I don't see why a hands-free is any more distracting than a conversation with someone in the car. I find it less so, because there's no impulse to make occasional eye contact or gesticulate.

Then again, I've worked for over 8 years in an environment where I need to talk on multiple radios while driving, moving, shooting, navigating, etc., so my perception may be skewed.

Studies have shown that when speaking with a person over the phone, the person on the other end is unaware of the current driving conditions, so they don't pause in case of danger. The same studies also showed that when the person driving is on the phone, they are more engaged in the conversation than when speaking to someone in the same car.

All studies have shown the same results for both hands free, or hand held. The results were so close, you couldn't tell between the 2.

 

[MikeD]

mmm. Makes sense. But it's not a problem for me...so I don't want anyone to tell me I can't use a hands-free because some other people [idiots?] are incapable of driving with one...

Then again, Spock tells me every day that the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. Damn him.

 

[LordOpie]

Then again, Spock tells me every day that the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. Damn him.

yeah, but he also mates like a salmon.

I eat salmon.
Therefore, Spock=Christ?

 

[MikeD]

Wouldn't that make him more like a matzoh ball?

 

[Echo]

Recent local story... 5 teenagers killed... by a text message

 

[fluff]

mmm. Makes sense. But it's not a problem for me...so I don't want anyone to tell me I can't use a hands-free because some other people [idiots?] are incapable of driving with one...

Then again, Spock tells me every day that the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. Damn him.

The only problem is that you cannot be objective about its effect on you. I've met people who swear blind that they drive better when drunk. They don't.

 

[MMike]

The only problem is that you cannot be objective about its effect on you. I've met people who swear blind that they drive better when drunk. They don't.

I most certainly dance better......

 

[fluff]

I most certainly dance better......

Cue that old picture again...

 

[MMike]

Cue that old picture again...

Luc should be collecting royalties for that one...

 

[fluff]

Luc should be collecting royalties for that one...

Either that or paying damages for harm inflicted to the viewers.

 

[SkaredShtles]

mmm. Makes sense. But it's not a problem for me...so I don't want anyone to tell me I can't use a hands-free because some other people [idiots?] are incapable of driving with one...

The main point is probably that you're a stellar driver when not talking on the phone but merely an above average driver when you are on the phone.

Most people are $hitty drivers to start with and become downright menaces when they're on the phone.

 

[syadasti]

How do taxi/truck/etc drivers get away with having a CB and mobile terminals with keyboard. Those are as dangerous or more than cell phones.

 

[Westy]

How do taxi/truck/etc drivers get away with having a CB and mobile terminals with keyboard. Those are as dangerous or more than cell phones.

Proffessional driver vs the average schmuck who is confused by 4 way stops and traffic circles.

 

[syadasti]

Proffessional driver vs the average schmuck who is confused by 4 way stops and traffic circles.

Cab drivers aren't great drivers, they break all kinds of laws regularly and drive aggressively. The norm in the truck industry is to try to bend the rules so drivers can drive longer than the maximum limits so most drivers take various drugs to stay awake. Money, not safety is the goal of both industries.

Distractions are just as bad for these drivers.